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Couldn’t make it to Hub 2013 Europe? Fear not; our reporter on the ground took down every detail. This four part series relives the day and recalls some of the key points that came out of the conference.

The day began with coffee-fueled chat and informal presentations around the demo pods, where attendees gathered to check out the latest Anaplan features and functionality. On display was a crisp new UI, cleaner and more streamlined than ever before, and new action buttons. The buttons are the latest in a series of innovations Anaplan is churning out in their quest to make crowdsourced business planning a reality for large organizations. The idea is to simplify a modeling action so that business users who might otherwise struggle to create their own models can contribute to planning in real time (more on that in another post). If the crowds gathered round the pods were anything to go by, this feature could become a real tipping point for end user participation.

Once the last registrants had trickled in, everyone was ushered into the main hall for the introductory keynote, “Disrupting the Enterprise Software Market – How Far Can We Go?” co-delivered by CEO Fred Laluyaux and CTO Michael Gould. Fred began the proceedings by reminding attendees of the day’s true focus: the customer. “This conference is about you guys,” said Fred. “It’s about those of you who share our vision and our passion for a new breed of enterprise software that’s immediate, that’s powerful, that’s connected, that’s fundamentally engaging.”

Michael joined Fred on stage and the pair guided customers through the platform technology, shared the experiences of real users, and unveiled ideas for the future. While Fred was careful to point out that “it’s hard to put Anaplan in a box,” his talk zeroed in on how the platform is implementing scalable, complex, and high volume applications at unheard of speeds. Thanks to Anaplan, the world’s biggest businesses (with the world’s biggest models) are working and collaborating in real time at levels of granularity that simply weren’t possible before this disruptive technology hit the market.

But you didn’t have to take Fred’s word for it. A quick perusal of the day’s agenda confirmed Hub Europe was going to be all about hearing from the unfiltered voice of the customer. Customer testimonials, customer panels, and town-hall style talks crammed the schedule. “We’re here to engage and exchange, to have questions and answers, to hear from you,” said Fred. “You’re the reason we’re here.”

About the Author

Anaplan is driving a new age of connected planning. Large and fast-growing organizations use Anaplan’s cloud platform in every business function to make informed decisions and drive faster, more effective planning processes. Anaplan also provides support, training, and planning transformation advisory services.